Painting Cape Town: Graffiti from South Africa

Painting Cape Town: Graffiti from South Africa provides the reader with an insider view into the graffiti subculture in this well-known South African city. The book includes interviews with 29 of Cape Town's most prominent graffiti artists. Each story provides a unique insight into the rationale behind the artist's passion and obsession for spreading their names. The history of the graffiti scene is traced from its beginnings on the Cape Flats in the 1980s and its roots within hip hop culture to the current graffiti scene polarised by contempt and praise. Painting Cape Town is the first publication of its kind and the reference text on the subject. The text is coupled with over 150 full colour illustrations.

About the author (2013)

Matthew Olckers started photographing graffiti in Cape Town, South Africa in 2007, and shared his photographs on a blog named PaintingTheTown. Through this platform, he was able to learn about the graffiti subculture in his home city. Much like the paint on the surfaces of city, the history of the local graffiti subculture slowly fades away. Matthew decided to convert his blog into the more permanent form of a book. The aim of his book, Painting Cape Town: Graffiti from South Africa, is to recognise the graffiti artists who have made an impact on the surfaces of the city though the quantity and quality of their work. Matthew's book gives you a chance to get inside the minds of the key figures in this misunderstood subculture.